Mental Floss

Not everyone enjoys classical music blaring out of gas station loudspeakers. And that's the point.

TRANSPORTATION

The Surprisingly Harsh Reason Gas Stations Play Classical Music

QUIZZES

Quiz: It’s Almost Impossible to Put These Atomic Age Events in the Right Order

COLD WAR

Classroom Cold War: When Students Were Trained to “Duck and Cover”

BEVERAGES

The Origins of Jeppson’s Malört, Chicago’s Weirdest Liqueur

KENNECTIONS

What’s the Kennection? #179

Roll that window up!

BIG QUESTIONS

Why Does Driving With a Car’s Rear Windows Down Hurt Your Ears?

A little princess

DISNEY

15 Most Popular Baby Names From Disney

Bill Paxton, Tom Hanks, and Kevin Bacon star in ‘Apollo 13’ (1995).

ENTERTAINMENT

13 Surprising Facts About ‘Apollo 13’

LANGUAGE

1

The Right Way to Pronounce ‘Gyro’

2

Definition Detective Quiz #49

3

Why Are Police Officers Called “Cops”?

4

You’re Probably Mispronouncing ‘Biopic’—Here’s Why

5

Why Do We Say “Over My Dead Body”?

HISTORY

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An illustration of the moments following the ‘Enola Gay’’s deployment of the atomic bomb over Hiroshima.

How 12 ‘Enola Gay’ Crew Members Remember Dropping the Atomic Bomb

Mount Rushmore in the golden hour.

11 Solid Facts About Mount Rushmore

The world changed forever when the U.S. detonated two atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.

12 Facts About the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Double doors don’t always mean a house is a duplex.

The Fascinating Reasons Why Some Old Houses Have Two Front Doors

QUIZZES

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Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of 'Hamilton' performing at the 2016 Tony Awards.

Can You Guess the Lyrics of These ‘Hamilton’ Songs?

See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

Tune Twist Quiz #52

The Short-Tail Gang.

Can You Guess the Real 19th-Century Street Gang Name?

Can You Solve This Old-Timey Riddle? #50

FEATURES

John Humphrey Noyes, head of the Oneida Community, and Charles Guiteau, presidential assassin.

The Bizarre Free Love Cult That Housed a Presidential Assassin

‘Bruce’ menaces the ‘Orca II’ on the set of ‘Jaws.’

The Bizarre Tale of the ‘Orca II,’ the Stunt Boat from ‘Jaws’

Lights, cameras, and ... crickets.

An Oral History of When Geraldo Rivera Opened Al Capone’s Vault

BIG QUESTIONS

SEE MORE

Digital blood pressure monitors allow people to check their systolic and diastolic numbers at home.

How Does Blood Pressure Work?

A fallout shelter sign left over from the Cold War still visible in Brooklyn, New York.

Why Do We Still See Fallout Shelter Signs?

Telling him you're checked out will only take a few minutes.

What Happens If You Don’t Check Out of a Hotel?

You deserve a bowl full of non-spoiled ice cream.

How Do You Know If Ice Cream Has Gone Bad?